History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 372 Death of Gao Jichang

This time, Southern Wu accepted Jingnan Gao Jichang's request to submit and appointed him as "King of Qin".

Huainan proclaimed himself emperor, openly competing with the central dynasty, while Jingnan followed the rule of Southern Wu, crossing the bottom line of the central dynasty. Li Siyuan ordered Southern Chu to send troops to attack Jingnan.

Ma Yin obeyed the imperial edict and sent troops to lead the army. He ordered the general Xu Dexun to lead the army and appointed his fourth son Ma Xifan as the military supervisor to march north to southern Jing.

Gao Jichang's nephew Gao Congsi approached the Nanchu formation alone, raised his gun and pointed, "The soldiers fought blood on the battlefield just for one or two people (Ma Yin and Gao Jichang), and they died too unjustly. I am Gao Jichang's nephew, and you are Ma Yin's son. How about this, let's duel in front of the battle, and the victory or defeat will be decided by our lives, how about it? Boy, do you dare?"

"What a brave man!" Ma Xifan looked around, "Who is willing to capture and kill this thief for me?"

Liao Kuangqi, deputy commander of Nanchu, volunteered to fight.

In novels and historical novels, it is common for the main generals of both sides to fight in single combat. In fact, in real history, it is extremely rare for the main generals to fight in single combat. This time it is clearly recorded in the official history. The specific process is not described, only that Liao Kuangqi hit Gao Congsi in the chest and broke his ribs. From this, it can be inferred that Liao Kuangqi should have used a heavy weapon such as a mace.

The morale of the Southern Chu army was greatly boosted and the Jingnan army was defeated.

So Gao Jichang asked for peace with Southern Chu again, and Xu Dexun withdrew his troops.

However, Gao Jichang took advantage of Southern Chu's unpreparedness and launched a surprise attack on Yuezhou, conquering it in one fell swoop. He also captured alive Yuezhou governor Li Tinggui and 34 others, and sent them all to Huainan to report his merits and ask for rewards.

We have emphasized the strategic position of Jingnan countless times. The central government allows him to be arrogant, domineering, and even allows him to have a high degree of autonomy, but it must not allow him to betray the country and surrender to the enemy. Since Ma Yin of Southern Chu cannot be defeated, the central government must take action personally. Although Li Siyuan was attacking the capital of Dingzhou at the time, the hidden dangers of Jingnan were no less than the threat of Khitan.

In this year, in September of the third year of Tiancheng (928), Li Siyuan had to fight on two fronts: in the north, he conquered the capital of Dingzhou who colluded with the Khitan, and in the south, he conquered Jingnan who rebelled and submitted to Huainan.

Li Siyuan ordered General Fang Zhiwen to take command and sent eunuchs to various roads and towns to mobilize troops and assemble them in Xiangzhou.

Now, under Gao Jichang's rule, there were only three states in southern Jing, namely Jing, Gui, and Xia. Xifang Ye had conquered Guizhou before, but was soon recaptured by Gao Jichang. When Li Siyuan launched the second mobilization order to pacify Jing, Wang Ya, the governor of Zhongzhou, took the lead and conquered Guizhou again.

The main force of the central government has not yet completed its assembly, and Gao Jichang only has two states left in his hands; Ma Yin of Southern Chu is also gearing up to avenge the loss of Yuezhou.

The situation in Jingnan is precarious.

At this critical moment, Comrade Gao Jichang unfortunately contracted athlete's foot and died at the age of 71.

"He died of beriberi." - "Old History of the Five Dynasties"

Is athlete's foot fatal? If the historian was not joking, based on my current understanding, I think Gao Jichang should have died of complications from diabetes, with foot ulcers being a typical symptom.

Gao Jichang had nine sons, five of whom are recorded in historical records; he had five daughters, all of whom have lost their names. It is said that the five sisters were all obsessed with Taoism and became monks in Fohua Temple, Bodhi Temple, Zhuangyan Temple, Shifo Temple, and Falun Temple. However, other authoritative historical records record that one of his daughters married Ni Zhijin, the son of General Ni Kefu. Gao Jichang was highly regarded in history, saying that although he was a warrior, he was able to respect the wise and treat intellectuals well.

At that time, there was a famous monk named Guanxiu, who was active in Liangzhe in his early years. He wrote a poem "Presented to Shangfu Qian" and dedicated it to Qian Liu. One of the lines, "The hall is full of flowers, and three thousand guests are drunk. A sword brings frost to fourteen states," was widely circulated.

Qian Liu was very happy, but asked him to change the "fourteen states" in the poem to "forty states". Monk Guanxiu flatly refused and was ignored.

"It is hard to add a state, and it is hard to change a poem. I am an idle cloud and a solitary crane, why can't I fly?" If I am not welcome here, there will be other places that will welcome me. Monk Guanxiu then traveled westward and entered the land of southern Jing.

At that time, Cheng Li was still the top military and political leader in Jingnan. It happened to be Cheng Li's birthday, and his staff and celebrities such as Guan Xiu offered poems to flatter him. Cheng Li was also a rough man who could not read a few words, but he still wanted to show off his elegance. He held a poetry competition on his birthday and received more than a hundred flattering poems. He was only concerned with being happy, but he did not understand the meaning of the poems at all, so he entrusted his top strategist Zheng Zhun to be the judge.

According to records, Guanxiu's poetry skills surpassed all others and he should have won first place. However, Zheng Zhun manipulated the situation and made his own poem rank first, while Guanxiu's poem ranked second.

Monk Guanxiu was very angry about this and threatened that with such rubbish variety shows like yours, the regime will be over sooner or later!

Not long after, Cheng Li humbly asked Guanxiu for advice. Guanxiu was still angry about the shady dealings he had endured last time, so he angrily gave up and said, "You want to ask me questions? Then you have to build a high platform and teach me from the platform. How can you be careless?"

Cheng Li became furious and said, "I'm giving you face, right?" and then he coaxed him away.

Guan Xiu then wrote a poem called "Sick Crane Poem" which said: "I heard that the air is clear and evil cannot enter, I don't know where your illness comes from." This is a cultural, knowledgeable and well-educated person cursing on the street, which translates to "Are you fucking sick?"

Not long after, Gao Jichang became the top military and political leader in the Jingnan area. Having long heard of Monk Guanxiu's name, he treated him with great courtesy and placed him in Longxing Temple.

Someone came to pay a visit to Monk Guanxiu, and during the conversation he mentioned the crackdown on the dark side of the Jingnan region, and lamented the suffering of the people. Monk Guanxiu then wrote "Ode to Cruel Officials" to criticize the Gao Jichang administration.

Gao Jichang was very unhappy, so he also began to distance himself from Guanxiu. Although he distanced himself from Guanxiu, he "did not commit any serious offense."

Guanxiu continued to go west and came to Shu. At that time, Wang Jian was the leader of Shu. Guanxiu presented a poem saying "A bottle and a bowl are getting old, and I have come here through thousands of rivers and mountains." Guanxiu was nicknamed "De De Monk" because of this.

Wang Jian was delighted and gave him the title of "Master Chan Yue" and built a Longhua temple for him. During his time in Shu, Guanxiu offered him poems and flattery many times, and once presented two chapters of "Yao Ming and Shun Song" on Wang Jian's birthday.

Guanxiu eventually passed away in Shu.

I do not deny the remarkable achievements that Monk Guanxiu made in the history of Chinese poetry, calligraphy and painting. However, some authoritative sources say that he was arrogant and fearless of power, and use his refusal to revise poems for Qian Liu as evidence. I do not agree with this. Throughout his history of traveling around the world, although he dared to offend the rulers, he almost always flattered them first, and only stood up after being coldly treated.

Take the time when he refused to revise Qian Liu’s poem. Wasn’t the poem he refused to revise also a compliment to Qian Liu?
If Guanxiu, who was respectful at first but arrogant later, was packaged as a tough guy who would not bow down for a few pieces of silver and who earned money while standing, then Gao Jichang, who "did not commit a serious crime", would certainly be a man who respected the wise and humbled himself.

(End of this chapter)